Removable foot for adjustable storage rack



July 14, 1970 D. R. STRONG REMOVABLE FOOT FOR ADJUSTABLE STORAGE RACK Filed June 21, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 uuauuoui y 1970 D. R. STRONG 3,520,507

REMOVABLE FOOT FOR ADJUSTABLE STORAGE RACK Filed June 21, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Tarn 5X51 United States Patent O 3,520,507 REMOVABLE FOOT FOR ADJUSTABLE STORAGE RACK Dale R. Strong, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Palmer-Shile Company, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Filed June 21, 1968, Ser. No. 738,904 Int. Cl. F16m 11/20 US. Cl. 248-1883 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An adjustable beam type storage rack having columns with vertically spaced pressed-out slots for beam retention. A removable foot for each column can be snapped into the bottom of the column any of four positions 90 apart, coacting with the lowermost slot and is removable with a screwdriver.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to a removable storage rack of the type having spaced columns with pressed-out vertically spaced slots and beams extending between the columns having end connecting members with teeth entering the slots. It is desirable to have removable feet for the columns which extend laterally in one direction and can be secured to the floor. The direction in which each foot extends depends on the clearance in that area, and it is desirable to positively retain the column on the foot when it is mounted. Sometimes a column is built up of two or more sections and it is therefore desirable that the ends of the column have the same cross-sectional shape as the main portion thereof, so that telescoping splice members may be mounted in the abutting ends of adjacent column sections to connect them together, as shown in copending application Ser. No. 753,930, filed by Edward E. Shile et al., on Aug. 20, 1968, and entitled Splice Construction for Adjustable Storage Racks, said copending application being assigned to the assignee of the present application.

Description of the prior art The prior art is exemplified by Pat. No. 3,386,591, issued June 4, 1968, to Harrison H. Cassel, and entitled Removable Foot for Adjustable Storage Racks, this patent showing a removable foot construction which necessitates the deformation of the column ends in order to create an interlocking relationship with the foot. This construction prevents the use of the columns for stacking column sections as described above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention overcomes the aforesaid disadvantage of the previously known removable foot construction in that the removable foot coacts with the lowermost pressedout slot of the column in order to achieve interlocking or detent action. The column end itself is not deformed in any way to coact with the removable foot, which comprises a fiat plate and a four-sided clip mounted on one section of the plate. The four sides of the clip have pressed-out inclined tabs, one of which will snap into the lowermost pressed-out column slot when the foot is mounted in position, the tabs of the other three walls frictionally engaging the remaining walls of the column. In this manner it is only necessary to insert a screwdriver in the slot retaining said one tab so as to deflect the side wall inwardly, permitting withdrawal of the entire foot by a hammer blow on the tab portion thereof.

3,520,507 Patented July 14, 1970 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a rack incorporating the novel foot construction of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the storage rack showing the manner in which the feet extend toward each other in the illustrated arrangement;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the removable foot;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional plan view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 and showing the manner in which two of the tabs on the side walls of the foot coact with the column; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view in elevation taken along the line 55 of FIG. 4 and showing the manner in which a foot may be removed with a screwdriver.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The adjustable storage rack is generally indicated at 11 and comprises a plurality of forward columns 12 and rear columns 13. Each pair of forward and rear columns is connected by cross members 14 and diagonal braces 15 as seen in FIG. 2. The columns have pressedout slots 16 in vertically spaced relation, these slots having inclined side walls which coact with the teeth of end connecting members 17 on beams 18. The beams extend between each pair of adjacent front posts or rear posts, and the end connecting members 17 are tightly wedged against the columns by the coaction of the teeth with inclined side walls of the slots. This construction is shown more particularly in Pat. No. 3,044,633, issued to Edward A. Baker, Jr., on July 17, 1962, for Adjustable Storage Rack.

Storage racks of this type are normally used in industrial installations and in connection with pallet racks handled by fork lift trucks. It therefore is desirable to support columns 12 and 13 by feet which are secured to floor 19 but extend to one side or the other or to the front or rear of the column being supported, so as to accommodate particular clearance situations and avoid interference with the fork lift trucks or other surrounding items.

The removable foot assembly is indicated generally at 21 and comprises a rectangular plate 22 having a mounting hole 23 in one section thereof. This section is indicated at 24 in FIG. 4 and may be termed the mounting section.

The other section 25 of plate 22 is indicated in FIG. 3 and may be termed the column connecting section. The connecting member is generally indicated at 26 and is secured by welding or some other means to section 25 of plate 22. Member 26 comprises a square bottom 27 and four upstanding walls 28, 29, 30 and 31, seen in FIGS. 3 and 4. These walls are of rectangular shape and are connected to the base 27 but free from each other, the connection to the base being by means of a curved portion 32 permitting deflection of any wall from its normal upright position inwardly toward the dot-dash line position of FIG. 5. Each wall has a pressed-out and outwardly and downwardly inclined tab 33, this tab being formed in an outwardly curved portion 34 of the wall near its upper end. The height of tabs 33 above base 22 is such that when base 22 engages the bottom of the column the tab adjacent web 35 will be just high enough to snap into position in slot 16.

The coaction of connecting member 26 with a column of the storage rack is shown most clearly in FIGS. 4 and 5. Each column of the storage rack comprises a web 35 in which slots 16 are formed, a pair of side walls 36 and 37, and a pair of flanges 38 and 39 extending toward each other from walls 36 and 37 respectively, and parallel to web 35. The columns have a basically square cross-sectional shape and base 27 of connecting member 26 likewise has a square shape, the spacing of walls 28 to 31 being such that they will fit into the end of the column. When walls 28 to 31 are inserted in the end of the column, the tab 33 on that wall adjacent web 35 will snap into position immediately above the lower edge 41 of the lowermost slot 16, as seen in FIG. 5. This will prevent inadvertent lifting of the column from the foot. The width of tabs 33 is somewhat less than the width of slot 16, as seen in FIG. 4, so that outwardly curved portion 34 of the wall will engage web 35. This will limit the outward movement of tab 33 so as not to interfere with the reception of a tooth on connecting member 17. The tabs 33 on walls 28 and 30 will frictionally engage column side walls 37 and 36 respectively, with the foot mounted as shown in FIG. 5, since wall 29 is adjacent web 35 of the column. In this particular way of installing the foot, the tab 33 on wall 31 will extend into the space 42 between flanges 38 and 39, so that the raised portion 34 of wall 31 will frictionally engage flanges 38 and 39, as seen in FIG. 5.

As indicated above, the foot may be installed in any one of four positions spaced 90 apart in order to provide for any clearance restrictions when assembling the storage rack. A fastener is shown in dot-dash lines at 43 for securing plate 22 to floor 19.

In order to remove foot 21, after unfastening member 43, it is merely necessary to insert a screwdriver shown partially in dot-dash lines at 44 into the upper end of slot 16 and deflect wall 29 (or whatever wall is next to web 35) inwardly until tab 33 clears bottom edge 41 of the slot 16. The foot may then be removed merely by a downwardly directed hammer blow on mounting section 24 of plate 22.

It will thus be observed that the removable foot construction provided does not require any deformation of the ends of the columns, the foot acting with an already present pressed-out slot in the column usable for mounting a beam. Column sections may thus be connected in stacked or aligned relation.

While it will be apparent that the preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed is well calculated to fulfill the objects above stated, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modification, variation and change without departing from the proper scope or fair meaning of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A removable foot construction for an adjustable storage rack of the type having columns with square cross sections and webs with a series of vertically spaced pressedout slots, comprising an elongated plate having a mounting section and a column connecting section, an apertured portion in said mounting section for receiving a fastener to secure the plate to a floor, a connecting member secured to said column connecting section, said connecting member comprising a base and four upwardly extending walls, the walls being connected along the bottom edges to the base to permit inward springing thereof but being separated from each other along their side edges, each of said walls having a pressed-out downwardly and outwardly inclined tab, the height of said tabs being such that upon insertion of said connecting member into the bottom of a column, the tab on the wall adjacent said column web will snap into a detaining position within the lowermost pressed-out slot on said column web, the portions of said connecting member walls having said tabs also being curved outwardly, said curved portions extending generally parallel to said plate, the width of said tabs being less than the width of said pressed-out column web slots, whereby said outwardly curved portion will engage said column web to prevent entrance of the tab into the portion of the slot which receives the beam end connecting member tooth.

,2. The combination according to claim 1, each of said connecting walls being provided with sufficient material above said tab to permit inner deflection of said wall by a screwdriver inserted in said lowermost slot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,390,637 9/1921 Nelson.

1,763,674 6/1930 Ross.

1,850,713 3/1932 FOX.

3,386,591 6/1968 Cassel 21l--83 EDWARD C. ALLEN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

